share

ACC Applauds Joint International Effort to Enhance the Availability of Chemical Safety Information

WASHINGTON (Oct. 15, 2013) – The American Chemistry Council (ACC) applauds the success of an unparalleled international effort that has provided important health and safety data for a large segment of chemicals in commerce under the Cooperative Chemicals Assessment Programme. The joint effort between industry, regulators and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is coming to a close as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) finalizes a number of assessments this week.

“This collaborative program has made more screening-level health and safety data publicly available than any other program,” said Christina Franz, Senior Director of Regulatory and Technical Affairs at ACC. “This data on approximately 1,200 chemicals has been used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and regulators around the globe to characterize the potential hazards of these substances, and it has improved the ability of regulators to implement their chemical management programs.”

Over the course of more than 20 years, co-producers of chemicals have worked together with OECD member countries to share health, environmental and safety information; to conduct screening-level hazard assessments on 18 health and environmental endpoints; and to engage in a peer review of the assessments with government experts of OECD member countries and with NGOs.